The Hourglass Figure Isn’t the Only Plus Size Shape

Have you taken a good look at the world of plus size fashion lately? In case you’ve missed it, there’s a lot happening on the scene.

For the most part everything is moving in a positive direction as more and more designers and brands start to create cute clothes for big girls. Our community officially has options when we go to stores now. There’s plus size sections, extended sizes, and a real shopping experience that includes a trip to the fitting room.

We still love to wait for packages in the snail mail, but it’s nice to have last minute options too.

We’ve worked really hard to get this far and have officially starting to see it all pay off. I think the biggest break-through is the use of plus size models in the media. There are plus size women on TV, clothing ads, billboards, heck, even on the cover of major magazines. It’s a great time to be alive as a full-figured woman, but there is something big that is still missing and I can’t help but notice it every time I see a plus size model on my screen.

Where are the plus size women that look like me? Or should I say, where are the plus size women that don’t have an hourglass figure?

It seems that as the demand for plus size fashion continues to rise, everyone is coming in to get their cut of the cash. Designers and brands are launching collections and styles, while the advertisers cast models through a set of slimming glasses.

I’m going to reduce the sugarcoating and just say it: I feel that many brands are using models that have a desirable plus size shape in fear of veering to far away from the norm. Ya know, you wouldn’t want to piss off mainstream society with a girl that has cub rub on the cover of a magazine? No way, we wouldn’t want to do that!

Instead, brands showcase shapes with just the right amount of curves to be passed off as plus. The models that are used in look books and ads are barely a size 12, but the clothing they are wearing is geared towards women sizes 12 to 26.  Their extra meat is placed in the perfect places, to ensure that they still remain desirable according to society. They have just the right amount of cleavage, a slim waist and curvy hips. Sure they have tiny bit of cellulite hear and there, but when I look at them I don’t feel that I can relate to them as as a woman that quite a few sizes above a size 12. When I scroll through the magazines and see these ads, I can’t picture myself in these clothes because these girls don’t face the same styling struggles as I do. Am I the only one that feels this way?

Don’t get me wrong, ALL plus size women (and women in general) are beautiful, but this isn’t about their beauty. This is about the fact that the fashion industry, including retailers are leaving a large group of people out of the picture. While they show a tall full-figured model with a smooth and tight mid section, they leave out the women that are short, round, very busty, and so on.

I’d like to know, where are the girls with a double chin? Where’s the chick with stretch marks on her midsection? Where’s the girl with back fat in a bikini? I want to see them because body diversity is a tremendous part of this movement that is currently being pushed to the side.

Thankfully, the voice of  the underrepresented portion of the plus size community has been heard.

JCPenney released a revolutionary video that is about to shake the fashion industry. Rather than using almost-plus size professional models in their #HereIAm advertising campaign, they went ahead and did the unthinkable. Are you ready for it? They used  plus size women of all sorts of shapes: Style blogger Gabi Fresh, yogi and Instagram star Valerie Sagun, body-positive writer Jes Baker, singer Mary Lambert, and Project Runway winner, and JCPenney designer Ashley Nell Tipton.

Some tall, some short. Some busty, some with booty. Some with a double chin, some with stretch marks. These women weren’t just any women, but body positive advocates that have been tirelessly working their ass off to promote body love for years. In just 3 minutes and 27 seconds JCPenney won the heart of the entire plus size community, and this my friends is how you reach the plus size market. This is how you come in, do your thing and mic drop so hard, that no one knows how to play their next card. Marketing teams around the globe, are seeing this? If so, take notes.

The brilliant thing here is that JCPenney didn’t reinvent the wheel. In fact, it’s really simple. They heard the call, the saw the void, and they filled in with beautiful plus size women of all sizes and body types. The message in the video was touching and for the first time I felt an emotional connection to a fashion advertisement. That response was triggered by the fact that these women look like me and the rest of the fluffy fat girl squad that I’ve been waiting to see on an ad.

What could make this real life fairy tale more magical? They didn’t try to change these girl. They showed them in their true light and in under 5 minutes they disarmed the status that plus size women are unable to live just as happy as any other woman.

And that’s what it’s all about: Being inclusive. Truly inclusive, if you really want to appeal to each and every woman.

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Source: styleBlazer